SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER: IN SEVEN PARTS
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*Original Text:The poetical works of S.T. Coleridge, ed. Henry Nelson Coleridge (London : W. Pickering, 1834). PR 4470 E34 VICT Rare Books.
*First Publication Date: 1798.
*Representative Poetry On-line: Editor, I. Lancashire; Publisher, Web Development Group, Inf. Tech. Services, Univ. of Toronto Lib.
*Edition: 3RP 2.426. © Kathleen Coburn and R. S. Woof, and I. Lancashire, Dept. of English (Univ. of Toronto), and Univ. of Toronto Press 1997-2000.
In-text Notes are keyed to line numbers. In this edited version, Coleridge's marginal notes appear at the end of the poem. (Another otherwise identical version formats the marginal notes approximately where they appear in the text.)
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Argument
How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his own Country.
PART I
1 It is an ancient Mariner,
2 And he stoppeth one of three.
3 'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
4 Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
5 The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
6 And I am next of kin;
7 The guests are met, the feast is set:
8 May'st hear the merry din.'
9 He holds him with his skinny hand,
10 'There was a ship,' quoth he.
11 'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
12 Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
13 He holds him with his glittering eye--
14 The Wedding-Guest stood still,
15 And listens like a three years' child:
16 The Mariner hath his will.
17 The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
18 He cannot choose but hear;
19 And thus spake on that ancient man,
20 The bright-eyed Mariner.
21 'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
22 Merrily did we drop
23 Below the kirk, below the hill,
24 Below the lighthouse top.
25 The Sun came up upon the left,
26 Out of the sea came he!
27 And he shone bright, and on the right
28 Went down into the sea.
29 Higher and higher every day,
30 Till over the mast at noon--'
31 The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
32 For he heard the loud bassoon.
33 The bride hath paced into the hall,
34 Red as a rose is she;
35 Nodding their heads before her goes
36 The merry minstrelsy.
37 The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
38 Yet he cannot choose but hear;
39 And thus spake on that ancient man,
40 The bright-eyed Mariner.
41 And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he
42 Was tyrannous and strong:
43 He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
44 And chased us south along.
45 With sloping masts and dipping prow,
46 As who pursued with yell and blow
47 Still treads the shadow of his foe,
48 And forward bends his head,
49 The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
50 And southward aye we fled.
51 And now there came both mist and snow,
52 And it grew wondrous cold:
53 And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
54 As green as emerald.
55 And through the drifts the snowy clifts
56 Did send a dismal sheen:
57 Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
58 The ice was all between.
59 The ice was here, the ice was there,
60 The ice was all around:
61 It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
62 Like noises in a swound!
63 At length did cross an Albatross,
64 Thorough the fog it came;
65 As if it had been a Christian soul,
66 We hailed it in God's name.
67 It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
68 And round and round it flew.
69 The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
70 The helmsman steered us through!
71 And a good south wind sprung up behind;
72 The Albatross did follow,
73 And every day, for food or play,
74 Came to the mariner's hollo!
75 In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
76 It perched for vespers nine;
77 Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
78 Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'
79 'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
80 From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
81 Why look'st thou so?'--With my cross-bow
82 I shot the ALBATROSS.
PART II
83 The Sun now rose upon the right:
84 Out of the sea came he,
85 Still hid in mist, and on the left
86 Went down into the sea.
87 And the good south wind still blew behind,
88 But no sweet bird did follow,
89 Nor any day for food or play
90 Came to the mariner's hollo!
91 And I had done a hellish thing,
92 And it would work 'em woe:
93 For all averred, I had killed the bird
94 That made the breeze to blow.
95 Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
96 That made the breeze to blow!
97 Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
98 The glorious Sun uprist:
99 Then all averred, I had killed the bird
100 That brought the fog and mist.
101 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
102 That bring the fog and mist.
103 The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
104 The furrow followed free;
105 We were the first that ever burst
106 Into that silent sea.
107 Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
108 'Twas sad as sad could be;
109 And we did speak only to break
110 The silence of the sea!
111 All in a hot and copper sky,
112 The bloody Sun, at noon,
113 Right up above the mast did stand,
114 No bigger than the Moon.
115 Day after day, day after day,
116 We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
117 As idle as a painted ship
118 Upon a painted ocean.
119 Water, water, every where,
120 And all the boards did shrink;
121 Water, water, every where,
122 Nor any drop to drink.
123 The very deep did rot: O Christ!
124 That ever this should be!
125 Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
126 Upon the slimy sea.
127 About, about, in reel and rout
128 The death-fires danced at night;
129 The water, like a witch's oils,
130 Burnt green, and blue and white.
131 And some in dreams assurèd were
132 Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
133 Nine fathom deep he had followed us
134 From the land of mist and snow.
135 And every tongue, through utter drought,
136 Was withered at the root;
137 We could not speak, no more than if
138 We had been choked with soot.
139 Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
140 Had I from old and young!
141 Instead of the cross, the Albatross
142 About my neck was hung.
PART III
143 There passed a weary time. Each throat
144 Was parched, and glazed each eye.
145 A weary time! a weary time!
146 How glazed each weary eye,
147 When looking westward, I beheld
148 A something in the sky.
149 At first it seemed a little speck,
150 And then it seemed a mist;
151 It moved and moved, and took at last
152 A certain shape, I wist.
153 A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
154 And still it neared and neared:
155 As if it dodged a water-sprite,
156 It plunged and tacked and veered.
157 With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
158 We could nor laugh nor wail;
159 Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
160 I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
161 And cried, A sail! a sail!
162 With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
163 Agape they heard me call:
164 Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
165 And all at once their breath drew in.
166 As they were drinking all.
167 See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
168 Hither to work us weal;
169 Without a breeze, without a tide,
170 She steadies with upright keel!
171 The western wave was all a-flame.
172 The day was well nigh done!
173 Almost upon the western wave
174 Rested the broad bright Sun;
175 When that strange shape drove suddenly
176 Betwixt us and the Sun.
177 And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
178 (Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
179 As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
180 With broad and burning face.
181 Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
182 How fast she nears and nears!
183 Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
184 Like restless gossameres?
185 Are those her ribs through which the Sun
186 Did peer, as through a grate?
187 And is that Woman all her crew?
188 Is that a DEATH? and are there two?
189 Is DEATH that woman's mate?
190Her lips were red, her looks were free,
191 Her locks were yellow as gold:
192 Her skin was as white as leprosy,
193 The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
194 Who thicks man's blood with cold.
195 The naked hulk alongside came,
196 And the twain were casting dice;
197 'The game is done! I've won! I've won!'
198 Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
199 The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out;
200 At one stride comes the dark;
201 With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
202 Off shot the spectre-bark.
203 We listened and looked sideways up!
204 Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
205 My life-blood seemed to sip!
206 The stars were dim, and thick the night,
207 The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
208 From the sails the dew did drip--
209 Till clomb above the eastern bar
210 The hornèd Moon, with one bright star
211 Within the nether tip.
212 One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
213 Too quick for groan or sigh,
214 Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
215 And cursed me with his eye.
216 Four times fifty living men,
217 (And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
218 With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
219 They dropped down one by one.
220 The souls did from their bodies fly,--
221 They fled to bliss or woe!
222 And every soul, it passed me by,
223 Like the whizz of my cross-bow!
PART IV
224 'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
225 I fear thy skinny hand!
226 And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
227 As is the ribbed sea-sand.
228 I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
229 And thy skinny hand, so brown.'--
230 Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
231 This body dropt not down.
232 Alone, alone, all, all alone,
233 Alone on a wide wide sea!
234 And never a saint took pity on
235 My soul in agony.
236 The many men, so beautiful!
237 And they all dead did lie:
238 And a thousand thousand slimy things
239 Lived on; and so did I.
240 I looked upon the rotting sea,
241 And drew my eyes away;
242 I looked upon the rotting deck,
243 And there the dead men lay.
244 I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
245 But or ever a prayer had gusht,
246 A wicked whisper came, and made
247 My heart as dry as dust.
248 I closed my lids, and kept them close,
249 And the balls like pulses beat;
250 For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
251 Lay dead like a load on my weary eye,
252 And the dead were at my feet.
253 The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
254 Nor rot nor reek did they:
255 The look with which they looked on me
256 Had never passed away.
257 An orphan's curse would drag to hell
258 A spirit from on high;
259 But oh! more horrible than that
260 Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
261 Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
262 And yet I could not die.
263 The moving Moon went up the sky,
264 And no where did abide:
265 Softly she was going up,
266 And a star or two beside--
267 Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
268 Like April hoar-frost spread;
269 But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
270 The charmèd water burnt alway
271 A still and awful red.
272 Beyond the shadow of the ship,
273 I watched the water-snakes:
274 They moved in tracks of shining white,
275 And when they reared, the elfish light
276 Fell off in hoary flakes.
277 Within the shadow of the ship
278 I watched their rich attire:
279 Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
280 They coiled and swam; and every track
281 Was a flash of golden fire.
282 O happy living things! no tongue
283 Their beauty might declare:
284 A spring of love gushed from my heart,
285 And I blessèd them unaware:
286 Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
287 And I blessed them unaware.
288 The self-same moment I could pray;
289 And from my neck so free
290 The Albatross fell off, and sank
291 Like lead into the sea.
PART V
292 Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
293 Beloved from pole to pole!
294 To Mary Queen the praise be given!
295 She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
296 That slid into my soul.
297 The silly buckets on the deck,
298 That had so long remained,
299 I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
300 And when I awoke, it rained.
301 My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
302 My garments all were dank;
303 Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
304 And still my body drank.
305 I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
306 I was so light--almost
307 I thought that I had died in sleep,
308 And was a blessed ghost.
309 And soon I heard a roaring wind:
310 It did not come anear;
311 But with its sound it shook the sails,
312 That were so thin and sere.
313 The upper air burst into life!
314 And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
315 To and fro they were hurried about!
316 And to and fro, and in and out,
317 The wan stars danced between.
318 And the coming wind did roar more loud,
319 And the sails did sigh like sedge,
320 And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
321 The Moon was at its edge.
322 The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
323 The Moon was at its side:
324 Like waters shot from some high crag,
325 The lightning fell with never a jag,
326 A river steep and wide.
327 The loud wind never reached the ship,
328 Yet now the ship moved on!
329 Beneath the lightning and the Moon
330 The dead men gave a groan.
331 They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
332 Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
333 It had been strange, even in a dream,
334 To have seen those dead men rise.
335 The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
336 Yet never a breeze up-blew;
337 The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
338 Where they were wont to do;
339 They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
340 We were a ghastly crew.
341 The body of my brother's son
342 Stood by me, knee to knee:
343 The body and I pulled at one rope,
344 But he said nought to me.
345 'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!'
346 Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
347 'Twas not those souls that fled in pain,
348 Which to their corses came again,
349 But a troop of spirits blest:
350 For when it dawned--they dropped their arms,
351 And clustered round the mast;
352 Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,
353 And from their bodies passed.
354 Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
355 Then darted to the Sun;
356 Slowly the sounds came back again,
357 Now mixed, now one by one.
358 Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
359 I heard the sky-lark sing;
360 Sometimes all little birds that are,
361 How they seemed to fill the sea and air
362 With their sweet jargoning!
363 And now 'twas like all instruments,
364 Now like a lonely flute;
365 And now it is an angel's song,
366 That makes the heavens be mute.
367 It ceased; yet still the sails made on
368 A pleasant noise till noon,
369 A noise like of a hidden brook
370 In the leafy month of June,
371 That to the sleeping woods all night
372 Singeth a quiet tune.
373 Till noon we quietly sailed on,
374 Yet never a breeze did breathe:
375 Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
376 Moved onward from beneath.
377 Under the keel nine fathom deep,
378 From the land of mist and snow,
379 The spirit slid: and it was he
380 That made the ship to go.
381 The sails at noon left off their tune,
382 And the ship stood still also.
383 The Sun, right up above the mast,
384 Had fixed her to the ocean:
385 But in a minute she 'gan stir,
386 With a short uneasy motion--
387 Backwards and forwards half her length
388 With a short uneasy motion.
389 Then like a pawing horse let go,
390 She made a sudden bound:
391 It flung the blood into my head,